A SPEECH ON POVERTY (WRITTEN BY MANI JACK)

How to Reduce Poverty

A very good morning I bid to our wise and deep
judges, precise timekeeper and respected
audience. This morning I would like to talk about
how to reduce poverty. According to the Oxford
Advanced Learners dictionary, poverty is defined
as the state of being poor.
Before I elaborate on how to reduce poverty, allow
me to share with you some devastating and
worrying facts on poverty. For your information,
poverty has always been one of the most critical
and disturbing issues in the world. According to
United Nations International Children's Emergency
Fund or UNICEF, 22,000 children die each day due
to poverty. Obviously, they die due to extreme
malnutrition. According to www.global issues.org,
at least 80% of humanity lives in poverty. In other
words, over 3 billion people in the world are
imprisoned by poverty.
Based on www.bread.org, 925 million people in the
world are suffering from hunger. According to the
same source, 9 million children died in 2008 before
they celebrated their fifth birthday. In 2005, it was
reported that 1.4 billion people earn less than 1.25

dollars day. That would be 4 Malaysian ringgit a

day or 120 ringgit a month. Can anyone enjoy life
with that very little amount of money? I leave it all
to you to do the calculation by referring to the
current standard of living. I hope the revelation of
the global figures will trigger a positive change in
each of us.
Of all the ways on how to reduce poverty, the most
effective one is through good education. Good
education is the mother of all positive changes.
According to www.globalissues.org., poverty is
getting out of control in developing countries.
There are so many factors which contribute to the
rise of poverty such as war and corruption.
Continuous war will definitely destroy most of the
important buildings such as schools and
universities. Obviously, going to school will remain
as a sweet dream. On the other hand, corruption
will make the rich richer and the poor poorer. In
other words, country revenue has not been divided
properly.
In order to enjoy a better economy, each nation
should work on providing good education to their
students. Scholarships should be given instead of
study loan because developing countries are not as
rich as developed countries. Developing countries
should abolish study loans because study loans will

hinder students who did well in academic to

continue their study. If study loans are not
abolished, the poor will remain poor as the world
today is all about knowledge and expertise. Free
education should also be considered as an option
as the old saying goes, Give a man a fish, he can
eat for a day; Teach him to fish, he can eat fish for
a lifetime.
Education is very effective in changing the way we
think. For example, a degree holder will definitely
not share the same level of thinking with a primary
six student. Furthermore, education helps us to
think critically about the causes and the effects of
our actions. Education also breeds generations who
know how to think and rationalize small and critical
matters. A degree holder also enjoys a higher
salary than those who just rely on SPM and PMR
result. A degree holder will also have the financial
ability to own a house and a car. On the other
hand, the uneducated ones will always go for the
cheapest and of the lowest quality. In other words,
poverty is undeniably equal to illiteracy. However,
before any nations work on improving of the
quality of education, they should first recognize
and appreciate the teachers as they are the ones
who build each country directly and indirectly.
Great teachers will always produce great students.

According to Sherwood Anderson, an American

novelist and short story writer, the whole object of
education si to develop the mind. The mind should
be a thing that works.
In conclusion, good education is the main key to
reduce poverty as it is pointless to come up with so
many economic strategies without paying full
attention to the importance of having good
education. Good education is equal to a better and
a stronger economy of a particular country. Thank
you so much for your attention.
M.J (25/03/2011)